Software for Panoramas

When taking panoramas from a tower with a balcony around it, it's necessary to change position after each photograph. This makes it much more difficult to get every shot lined up with the previous image. In such a case, better software is necessary. There are going to be many points which need to be lined up to make the final panorama realistic.
Extreme wide-angle lenses or fish-eye lenses can be used for panoramas, but the merging is more difficult. To put it mildly, Photomerge can have a problem handling this kind of situation, especially if there is not a lot of overlap.

Now for the really good news.
There is a comprehensive piece of software for stitching which is free - well almost.
Panorama Tools was developed by Helmut Dersch. The trouble is the programme is very much in its raw state, complicated to use and requires the writing of scripts to function properly. For those who are good at the mechanics of computers and who want some challenging fun, then the original PanoTools is FREE .
For the rest of us, fortunately, there are very good interfaces available for PC and Mac which are cheap.


PanoTools for PC
PC users have a choice of two.

PTGui will produce standard flat panoramas and full 360 degree cylindrical panos. It can deal with rotated and tilted images, so a wobbly camera does not matter.
It works in layers which means further fine tuning of the blend can be done later.
Any number of originals can be used to virtually unlimited size and it works in 16 bit.
Price is modest and their website www.ptgui.com contains tutorials.

PTAssembler was developed by a long-term user of PanoTools.
It will operate automatically or manually with a great deal of user-control.
Control points can be set to link up and position the individual images where they overlap.
Pincushion and barrel lens distortion can be detected and corrected.
Producing a result in layers gives the user further control.
Automatic batch processing is also possible.
PTAssembler is Shareware, which means a small contribution is requested.


PanoTools for Mac

PTMac is an interface for PanoTools and can make panoramas in most formats: cylindrical, cubic QTVR for user interaction, normal panos for Photoshop and more.
Results can be very precise and settings can be saved for future use.
The PTMac website contains numerous tutorials and price is $50.
For a little more one can include LensFix to correct just about any type of lens distortion and Panotools plug-ins to do extra things with fish-eye images, although these are not necessary for making panoramas.


Other panoramic softwares use their own systems.

PhotoVista comes on two versions.
The basic version of modest price is for 360 degree panoramas and has automatic lens detection.
The professional version for $400 will create interactive 360 degree panos as virtual tours where the user can zoom, pan and move from room to room.
www.iseephotovista.com

Realviz Stitcher follows a similar format.
Stitcher Express comprehensively copes with all aspects of panorama creation, including full spheres.
Stitcher, the rather pricey full version, offers automatic stitching. It will also create interactive QTVRs and make panos to much larger sizes.
www.stitcher.realviz.com



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Making panoramas
Photomerge
The Nodal Point
Tripod heads for panoramas
Panoramic cameras

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